Though Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), contesting four seats in Uttarakhand, is unlikely to win any, the third most potent political force in the state after BJP and Congress might play spoilsport for the two principal players, spiting their chances by eating into their votes.
The BSP which commands groundswell of support in some belts of the state with a sizeable number of Dalit and Muslim voters has entered into an alliance with Samajwadi Party in Uttarakhand under which BSP is contesting four seats while SP would field its candidate from Garhwal.
The political observers opine that the alliance of the two parties would not cut much of the ice since SP is a marginal player in Uttarakhand.
They ,however, point out that the BSP on its own would be an important factor in Haridwar and Nainital- Udham Singh Nagar constituencies, in particular.
It is generally believed that the BSP candidates would affect the chances of the Congress candidates more as both the parties have same vote bank.
In the 2014 general election, BSP secured 6.75 percent votes in state. In the same election, the BSP cornered 13 percent votes in Haridwar while in Nainital its candidate secured 8.24 percent votes. In the 2009 election, the vote share of BSP surged up to 15.24 percent. In that election, its candidates secured 14 percent and 19.04 percent vote in Haridwar and Nainital seats respectively.
The Modi wave, however, affected the vote share of the party in the 2014 election as it nosedived to 4.75 percent in the state.
The party candidates secured six percent and three percent votes from Haridwar and Nainital constituencies respectively.
Senior Journalist and political commentator Jai Singh Rawat said that though the SP- BSP combine would not be able to win a single seat in Uttarakhand, it could spite the prospects of the Congress in Haridwar seat.
When contacted over phone, the state BSP chief, Kuldeep Baliyan claimed that the BSP- SP combine would surprise everyone with its performance in Uttarakhand. “We are getting a very good response and win all the five seats in the state,’’ he said.
